Praise
for a Job Well Done

By
Ed Rigsbee, CSP, CAE

(1009
Words)

Praise for a job well done! Was
the response most frequently given to me during my six-month Employee Loyalty
Survey in 1995.At seminars across the
country,I asked attendees to tell me
the one thing that would improve their company loyalty.Present, were of all levels from entry to executive,and recognition is what American workers want most!

I believe most executives,
owners and managers secretly yearn for employees who have an emotional
ownership in their company.Employees
that operate as if they owned the company and always looked out for the
company's best interests.Unfortunately,
few are willing to do what it takes to cultivate this emotional ownership.Often, I hear managers saying that loyalty is too costly.But, how much does it cost to say, "Good job" or "Thank
you?"Not a cent!The cost is the manager giving of him or herself--and to some, that
price is too high.I have found
that a little bit of recognition goes a long way.

In The Art of Partnering
I wrote about Management By Partnering Around (MBPA).I believe MBPA is the best possible solution to greater productivity.This applies to anybody who considers them a manager or better yet, a
leader.Use Ken Blanchard's model from the One Minute Manager, find
employees doing things right and give them a "one minute praising"
on the spot.What a great way to build
relationships.

Partnering with Employees

When I suggest partnering
around, I'm simply suggesting that you create mini-alliances throughout your
organization with employees, teams, executives, and others.As in networking, your goal in MBPA is to get to know as many employees
as possible.Next, learn their strengths,
weaknesses, and their interests.This
knowledge will allow you to successfully put people together using the
"Adaptive Organization" model.It
will serve you well by unleashing employee creativity and more effectively
utilizing their unique abilities.

If you will commit to
MBPA, you
can add my favorite recognition program to all your other incentive or
motivational workplace programs.Rigsbee's
Recommended Recognition Program is that of offering negotiable corporate tender.The benefits to this recognition system are: Immediate and customized
recognitions.We all want to know how we
are doing. Who would not like their
"reward" customized to their individual preferences?

Employee Recognition Certificates

Too expensive you say--not at
all!This is the best deal in town
if you do it correctly.Print recognition
bucks assign a value and hand them out when you catch your employees doing a
great job.It's praise for a job well
done.Who should hand out the
certificates?It should be
supervisors, managers and executives/owners.

Assigning the value is a bit
tricky.You want them coveted by the
employees but not so valuable that your managers are hesitant to hand them out.An Air Force major I met in Alaska assigned the value as a paid day off
but for most companies it is too valuable.Managers
are much less likely to hand out days off than a coffee mug.

First look at what you already
have that would create value in the lives of your employees, vender freebies,
specialty advertising items and so forth.Then
see what toys can barter for within your community and then post a list of
"recognitions" and assign how many certificates needed for redemption.One certificate might be worth a paid hour off or a T-shirt.Two certificates might get your employee movie tickets for two or lunch
at a local haunt.Five certificates might
get a company jacket of paid vacation day.Play
with it, put up new postings each month of the newly acquired goodies.Be creative, always add something new to keep the program fresh and your
employees guessing.

The Employee Recognition Program Works

This program only works of the
supervisors, managers and executives/owners will give of themselves to find
employees doing things right and reward them for a job well done.Take a risk and try it.All you
have to lose is the productivity your not now currently getting.Whatever method you select for recognizing your employees, the important
thing is to start now.

Copyright
1996-2013 Ed Rigsbee

#
# #

Ed Rigsbee, CSP, CAE, is the
author of PartnerShift, Developing
Strategic Alliances and The
Art of Partnering. Additionally, he has over 2,000 published articles to his
credit. Ed travels internationally to deliver strategic alliance keynotes
and workshops. When you need a keynote speaker or workshop leader on employee
partnering, Ed can be reached at (805) 498-5720, ed@rigsbee.com or visit www.rigsbee.com.